Stan Bowman. Chicago won't accept the fact that they're not as good as they used to be. He's done what Dean Lombardi was doing recently. Look at the Ladd trade, the Saad trade. And then those huge contracts to Toews, Kane, and Seabrook. Also, there's the Leddy trade too. They wouldn't have won those cups without him, but in the last few years he's made questionable moves. Not gonna predict right now whether he gets fired or not, but he definitely could.

Whether he should be or will be are pretty different.

Geez RAIF, what's with the title? Do you work for BuzzFeed?

What's wrong with the title? I thought this would be big to a lot of people ... i thought Bowman getting fired would be surprising to a lot of people.

It's very clickbaity. Just tell us who the GM is. "Stan Bowman could be fired this offseason" or "My reasons for why Stan Bowman could be fired this offseason" would be a lot better than what you put.

So it's supposed to be surprising that a GM who made multiple bad trades in the offseason and built one of the weakest defense cores in the league could be fired? Trading Panarin made zero sense from the second the trade was made. The downgrade from Hjalmarsson to Murphy, and freeing up very little cap space in the process made no sense. Saad was overpaid when he traded for him, and now they have another overpaid player on a long term deal. His work this offseason was terrible for both the short and long terms.

Why would him being fired come as a surprise?

Who wants to bet Bowman will not be fired?

Marc Bergevin and Peter Chiarelli are still Gm's and probably will remain GM's until next year at the earliest. Chicago is going to fire the architect of a 3 time Stanley cup winning team?!?!!

Bowman has earned the right to get himself out of his mess. Its not like another Gm will magically make all their problems go away.

I thought everyone else thought he was one of the best GMs in the league.

Look at Dean Lombardi. They won 2 cups with him, and he got fired 3 years later. Bishop/Sekera is kind of similar to Ladd/Saad. Chicago is doing everything they can to keep winning, when it might be time to rebuild.

Very true on the Lombardi comparison. I would argue though that Lombardi's firing came as a result of repeated failure over the span of 3 years where LAK missed the playoffs twice. Bowman's Hawks haven't missed the playoffs until most likely this year and have been a really good team every single year since he took over. If you ask me again next off season after the Hawks miss the playoffs again, I'd agree with you.

And IMO they probably will. They really don't have enough good prospects, and they have some good young guys, but also their cap thing is really weird. Stan Bowman shouldn't have signed Kane and Toews to the contracts he did. They're great players, but that's way too much money, especially with both of them. Then look at the Seabrook contract. That's one of their contracts they've signed that hasn't turned out good for them. Seabrook is a good player but not the player he used to be and in a few years will likely be a bottom pairing guy. Sure, he's still a very good defenseman, but will soon get a bit worse, and he's still be a good, bottom pairing guy or extra guy, but he won't be worth his contract, and is under contract for a while still.

In my opinion, he's spent too much on his top players, and has also been trying to win now still, by adding guys like Ladd that he did a few years ago. He won't accept the fact that they aren't as good as they used to be. Also, look at the Leddy trade. Terrible trade for Chicago i think. And then Sharp? They got pretty much nothing in the end (in 16-17, they didn't have anything from that trade or that they got for the guys they got in the Sharp trade). And Johns has potential too. And once again, i'm not predicting whether he'll be fired after the season or not, but he could, there's definitely a chance. It kind of depends what happens at the deadline though.

Maybe a more interesting question set:

1) Is there any (not ridiculous) way they could get off the Seabrook contract?

2) Is there a team that would take Jonathan Toews in a trade?

3) Would they consider trading Duncan Keith or Patrick Kane?

and, maybe most importantly

4) Is it time for the Blackhawks to blow it up?

All I'm saying is he's earned at least one more year to fix some issues. After all he has done, he's earned the right. Lombardi struck out pretty much 3 years in a row. Even the players were tired of the Sutter and Lombardi regime.

You might be right. I know this isn't too likely, but if they gave up picks/prospects for (Evander) Kane/Nash/Green/etc then he'd get fired, right?

Rangers. The Blackhawks are not buyers this deadline. They won’t go after any of those guys.

I know, they shouldn't, but i'm saying if they did he'd probably get fired.

The chance of it would be much greater yes. Chicago needs to put their focus on drafting a good prospect this year.

Hyperbole much?

Did the Hawks not finish first in the West last season? oh right they did.

So the Hawks have one bad season and "the sky is falling"???

Guess what? I heard all of this nonsense in 2011, then again in 2012 when this team was "officially done"...... I suspect that you would like to believe the Hawks are done like many do, however there is a difference between fantasy and reality..

Bowman, like every other summer was up against the cap this past summer and he had to make moves to get under cap, and trades that are made to get under cap will almost NEVER favor the team that is forced to make them....

Bowman for forced to trade good players for minimal returns and he had almost no cap space to make improvements.... The Hawks were forced to play what they have.

I would love to see what you would have done if you were in Bowman's shoes.

There is ZERO way Bowman or Q gets fired.... Hawks are a couple of veteran signings away from winning more cups.Yea, throw Vermette, Bozak, JvR and Hamius on this team - the Hawks are winning Cups... This team isn't even CLOSE to rebuilding.. The Hawks are closer to a cup than many "up and coming teams" that have a "bright future"..

If the Hawks have a couple of unsuccessful seasons over the next few years without a plan for the future - then you fire them... You fire them if the Hawks need to rebuild a few years down the line but Bowman refuses...... However as a Hawks fan, the Hawks aren't even close - NOT EVEN CLOSE to being in that position.

This core still has a good 4-5 years left in them until they're reduced to "role players" and IMO, I don't think guys like Kane or Keith will ever be "role players" - they'll either be impact players or they will retire.. Either way I see both playing until they're 38-40 with the Blackhawks.

Also, the future of the Hawks is very bright with the young talent they already have.... The only thing the Hawks lack for a future core is a young franchise player, but that may change this summer when the Hawks draft in the top 5 ... But as it is they're slowly drafting a young core as it is.... Schmaltz & DeBrincat are both legitimate top 6 near PPG studs..Henri Jokiharju looks like he can be a #1-2 puck moving defenseman, perhaps a Duncan Keith type.... Of course the Hawks have boatloads of young guys that can fill out the bottom 6...

What really hurt this team - this year was it's lack of experience.... But like I said: Bowman had no choice because he had no cap space.... This summer will be different tho - he will have cap space and he knows what he needs - and the Hawks don't need anything fancy to get them back to the finals - just a few experienced players that can play a role.

I could go on forever about why you're wrong, but I will leave it at that for now.

If Bowman retains 33% he could get assets for Seabrook for sure... Seabrook isn't terrible, he's just overpaid by 2 million. He would be desirable with the right contract.



Bowman will never trade Toews. Toews is the face of this franchise and the reason why the Hawks have 3 cups and he will play a role in future cups with the Hawks.



Nothing is impossible but I highly doubt Bowman would even think about trading either or.... A GM would have to offer up something Bowman couldn't refuse. And both still play a role on this team -- they're not even the problem with this team - nor is Toews.



Not even close...

The Hawks are closer to winning Cup than they are to a rebuild....

Honestly, I cant even believe someone would even ponder that when you look at the Hawks roster... That idea is just so preposterous.

Sure if the core was in their late 30's and this team was coming off back to back losing seasons - yeah you "blow it up" but that's not the situation the franchise is in now..

Remember the Hawks finished first in the West last season... Sorry but that means something - it means they're not even close to done.

If the Hawks sign the following UFA's (or players with similar roles/skills) they will be back in the finals next spring:

Vermette
Jame van Riemsdyk
Bozak
Trevor van Riemsdyk (He's an RFA but I don't think there would be any compensation if he signs for 1.5 per)
Dan Hamhuis

Yes, Bowman will have enough cap space to sign those guys there is no debate about it.

If Bowman can sign those guys or similar players to those players then the Hawks will be making a deep run next spring.

Yes it would be because he shouldn't be fired nor will he be fired.

Look, If I thought he was bad for the Hawks I would want him fired as a Hawks fan, but he's not bad for the Hawks and this summer for once in a decade Bowman is going to have cap space to work with, he's going to be able to sign guys he want's - not guys he can afford.... Let's not forget he's going to have an excellent pick a the draft.... I don't think the Hawks have drafted top 10 since 2007 when they took Kane 1st overall...So the Hawks haven't drafted a top 10 player in a decade, as a matter of fact this will be Bowman's first top 10 pick of his career . That should show you how good of a GM he is - he's never had a top 10 pick in his career, yet sustained a perennial contender for his entire tenure as Hawks GM..

Also, you don't fire a GM for missing the playoffs once..... From a personal perspective that is just bad.... A guy gets you 3 cups, 5 WCF appearances and you fire him the second you don't make the playoffs..

If I'm Rocky Wirtz firing Bowman wouldn't even be something I would consider - especially when Bowman will have a lot of flexibility with the cap and the roster this summer.

First it's going to really hard to trade players with NMC or restrictive NTC. And teams would want big retention so there is much value in the trades.
At the time of 10m Toews and Kane signing.....yea it was too much but the cap was expected to rise more than it did.
Leddy trade was the first result of cap crunch.
That Seabrook contract was absolutely silly. No team probably would've offered so much $$$$ and certainly not for so much term. And what would be issued if Seabrook had "walked". Can't you spend that 6.8m wisely.
Somehow over the years, the Pens are really the only successful team to make a core of high cap hits. Malkin, Crosby, Letang.....25.5m and then had a various cast of player come in go and still win.

I agree that Bowman isn't fired this offseason... But let's not pretend like he didn't make moves that hurt the team this year.

Saad for Panarin was a horrible move. Panarin has 47 pts in 59 games on a fairly offensively anemic team. Saad has 27 pts in the same number of games.

Wasn't a cap move, either. Both are making $6 mill against the cap.

Then you have the Hjarlmarrson trade, the recent moving of Pokka for a 4th liner... Bowman has earned a lot of leeway from fans and management (and rightfully so), but this year is not one he'll want to highlight on his resume.

I'd like to see how much you think you can sign these guys for and how you'd fit them under the cap.

Brandon Saad is a byproduct of Murphy's Law this season in Columbus.

I would make the contention that is was strictly a cap move. The replacement level of Artemi Panarin and Brandon Saad isn't worth was Panarin is going to get on the open market, while Saad is locked in a set price for multiple years. Panarin could easily demand north of 8M on the open market.

All GM's make questionable moves...

Saad for Panarin wasn't a bad trade at all.. We all know what Saad can do with Toews, the entire team has just had a terrible season.. I have faith Saad will come back this fall and have a better season.

Remember, Saad is signed for 5 more years at 6 per, so he has cost certainty - Bowman can plan ahead knowing this... He got Murphy for the same reason.

Bowman is trying to set this team up to be long term contenders.

I mean I understood when he used language like "cost certainty" and "long-term outlook" while explaining the trades he made...

I think Bowman could and should have gotten more for Hjalmarsson but do you really trade Hammer for a guy that will be a UFA in a year who is due for a huge raise you cant afford?

Bowman is getting his ducks in order.

I like the direction this team is going and the method Bowman is using.... Bowman is thinking 2-3 years down the road - not just this season or next.

The only contracts I have had an issue with that Bowman handed out were Bickell, Panik and to some extent Seabrook.... I'm absolutely fine with the Toews & Kane contracts..

The Bickell contract was just mind boggling to me - even to this day I don't understand it... Even if Bickell worked out I still wouldn't understand it.. Was Bickell a playoff hero? sure but that doesn't warrant a 4 per contract...A player of his skill-set doesn't warrant a 4 per contract... He was never a legitimate top 6 player so that contract baffled me... Maybe Bowman thought he still had potential to get better? I don't know why he would think that about a 25 year old role player... So yea, that's how I feel about that deal.

The Seabrook contract....... I understand he wanted to keep the core intact, and had no desire to see Seabrook walk over peanuts, and Bowman probably didn't want to insult Seabrook with a lowball offer considering how much he has done for the Hawks... I mean the franchise has shown they reward players for their success - something BIll Wirtz never did when he was alive, but Bowman should have given him maybe a 4 year contract instead of a 6 year contract... He paid too much for Seabrook but like I said I understand why..... And what if Seabrook walked??? Hawks fans wouldn't be thrilled I can tell you that much. Also, when Searbook signed that deal the Hawks were just coming off winning another cup - and that was Seabrooks last NHL contract where he was going to make $$$$$..... But like I said 6.875 was too much and 6 years is too long.. 6.875 would have been fine on a 4 year deal, but on a 6 year deal I think 5 per would have been about right.

And the Panik contract was another bad one... Sure, Panik had an excellent season last year - he was a beast. However there was nothing before last season that indicated he deserved 3.75 per and now last season looks like it was a fluke ... BUT, Bowman was able to correct his mistake and rid himself of that contract by bringing in Duclair..... BTW, that was an excellent trade.. Bowman got a kid with epic potential that's only 21 and an RFA for a overpaid 3rd liner.... Not bad at all.

Also, that Panik trade is petty interesting... Bowman traded Jeremy Morin for Richard Panik, then turned Richard Panik into Anthony Duclair...That's a significant upgrade from Jeremy Morin..

Bowman's real test is going to come this summer. Bowman know the Hawks needs, he will have cap space and lots of assets for potential trades - not to mention a top 10 or maybe a top 5 pick for the first time in his GM career...... I mean I think Bowman has more than enough to work with between assets and cap space to significantly improve this team this summer. Also what the Hawks need isn't anything major either... Hawks needs a couple of experienced defensive forwards that can grind, play on the PK and win draws - guys like Vermette & Bozak, then he needs a couple of experienced #4-5 defensemen that are responsible and can eat 18-20 minutes a night - players that are more than dooable with the cap space Bowman will have.....

Now if the Hawks can win the draft lotto and take Rasmus "Bobby Orr" Dalhin - the Hawks will be fine for another decade.